Laura Catena, Managing Director of Catena Zapata, will no longer supply wines to the Irish market. It's in response to new health labelling requirements set to take effect in 2026.
“As of June this year, everything that goes to Ireland has to have the new back label,” she told Meininger’s. “So we will not be shipping to Ireland after June.”
Starting from 22 May 2026, all alcohol sold in Ireland will carry what is being described as the world’s most comprehensive health warning label. The label will warn consumers about pregnancy health risks and liver disease, and will also state. "There is a direct link between alcohol and fatal cancers."
Catena, a Harvard graduate with a Medical Doctor degree from Stanford University, strongly disputes the scientific basis of these labels.
"It says that alcohol causes liver disease and a group of fatal cancers, and actually alcohol in moderation does not cause liver disease," she argues. "And there may be an association with breast cancer for even moderate consumption. But I think that to say that any amount of alcohol causes cancer is a false statement."
The argument for labels
Proponents of health warning labels argue that people have a right to know about alcohol's carcinogenic properties. Studies have shown that only 21% of people in Ireland are aware of the link between alcohol and cancer, for example.
The problem, says Catena, is that the relationship isn’t clear cut enough to justify such blunt warnings.
“At higher doses, there is no debate that there is an increase in the risk of breast cancer, of oral cancer, oesophageal cancer, of colon cancer, and of liver cancer,” she says. “That’s something we’ve known for decades. The thing we’re debating here is moderate drinking.”
Catena particularly objects to the warning saying alcohol "causes" cancer rather than "is associated with,” arguing that "'causes' implies certainty, which we don't have for either harms or benefits for moderate alcohol. To have certainty we would need a large randomised controlled study."
Catena further emphasises the potential cardiovascular benefits of moderate drinking. "If you're going to put something about breast cancer based on observational data, you should also tell women that they have lower mortality from cardiovascular causes," she notes. "For somebody like me — I'm over 50 — I have a 10 times greater chance of dying from cardiovascular causes than from breast cancer."
She points to observational data suggesting moderate alcohol consumption can lead to lower cardiovascular disease risk, thanks to "increased HDL, improved diabetes control and blood thinner effect. So there's a mechanism that is very powerful."
The Irish context
The Irish cancer warning labels are part of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018, which introduced not just health warnings, but also minimum unit pricing, higher regulations of sponsorship, marketing and advertising, and "structural separation" of alcohol; shoppers in a supermarket have to pass through a barrier to get to the alcohol section.
The introduction of these measures faced significant international scrutiny. Countries including the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand raised concerns at the World Trade Organisation, viewing the labels as a potential trade barrier. However, none launched a formal dispute. Not only that, but the World Health Organisation supported Ireland's position.
The labels were also fiercely criticised by countries in the EU, particularly Italy. Coldiretti, Italy’s farming association, called them a “direct attack” on the country. The EU, however, allows individual countries to adopt national health measures, as long as they give enough advance warning.
Now that Ireland has faced down opposition at both the WTO and EU levels, the way is clear for other countries to introduce similar cancer warnings.
Catena Zapata sells around 5,000 9-Litre cases in Ireland each year, of which the majority are Malbec. FC
